Introduce your VIP (Very Important Preemie!)

Awe hun sending you big big hugs. He is in the right place to get better and before you know it he is going to be coming home too :hugs: do you have some help at home so that you can rest between feeds Hun? Xxxx
 
Hi everyone. My twins were born last week at 35 weeks 3 days. Baby girl and I came home today and had to leave baby boy behind after a 5 day stay with him. He was on cpap and then taken off and then ended up on nasal canula today which theyve since weaned again. He's also struggling to eat and taking most of it in tube feedings. He also had a blood transfusion
Since being home I cannot stop crying and thinking about his sweet face and how I left him and I'm not there for him. I had a vaginal twin birth and have had barely any time to sleep eat shower or recover. I have another daughter at home and now a new baby girl here and I just felt we had to come home but I feel so awful and torn

Everything will be ok hun :hugs:. It never gets easier leaving our babies behind in the NICU. I hope he is able to be released soon. From the sounds of it he is right on the edge of leaving. Good luck to you hun!
 
First pic is little man at 24 hours old and 2nd Pic is little one now :)

So i had posted in here back in August when I had my son but he was only 1 day old so I wanted to update on our NICU stay. So my son Dominic Christian Alexander was born Aug 16 2014 at 35 weeks 3 days. He was 18.5 inches long and he weighed 4lbs 12.8 oz. He is now 7 months 3 days old and 6 months 2 days old adj. He now weighs 11lbs 11oz.

So we were out of town visiting my in laws 1.5 hours away as we did not have the kids and we wanted to see them one last time before my scheduled c section. We arrived at their place at 8pm on Aug 15. I was started having contractions around 9pm but i didn't think much of it. This was my 3rd baby and I had never experienced labor. Around 10 i started losing bits of my mucus plug but again didn't think much of it because apparently you can lose it and it can grow back. They gradually got worse. At 130am Aug 16 they were coming about every 6-7 minutes so I decided to go to hospital to get checked out. They checked me and i was 1 cm dilated. I wasn't concerned as my sister had been at 1cm for the last 2 weeks. So they started getting more painful and closer together and they came and checked again and i was 3cm dilated. So they said they were going to prep me for csection. I was scared at this point. My son was born at 651am.

We were lucky that he had no breathing issues and the only thing he had was feeding issues. After 12 hours they moved him out from under the heating lamps to a little bassinet. All he had was an iv. Nursing was going well. The nicu nurses were amazing. Dad was planning on going back to the in laws the next afternoon to get some rest before he headed home as he had to work on the Monday and to be home with my other 2 kids. So on the Sunday just before dad was about to leave we went to speak to the delivery ward nurses. I had issues with them. In the city i was suppose to deliver in they encourage you to get up out of bed and walk around after csection to help the healing process, in the hospital i delivered in they didnt want you out of bed. I had had 2 prior csections i knew how things worked. So they didnt want me waking down to the nicu alone, guess they thought i would keel over in the process. So we went to go make sure before dad left that they would let me walk down alone once dad left to see the baby. They said absolutely not. I asked how i was suppose to feed my son and they said he would be fine for the night, except i wasn't going to be able to go down on my own till i was discharged 24 hours later!!! I was so angry and upset and dad said under no circumstance was that happening so he decided to stay one more night till i was discharged the next day(Monday) and i could come and go as i please. This nicu was nice as i could pick him up whenever i pleased and hold him as long as i wanted. Unfortunately at this point though i wasn't getting much out when i pumped.

So all the nicu nurses knew we were from woodstock so lo had the nickname of the woodstock baby. So on the sunday when we went down for the midnight feed the nurse came to us and asked if we were Interested in transfering to a hospital closer to home. We had already thought about that but my dad said we would have to pay for it so we didn't pursue it. So when the nurse asked and she told us that ohip covers the transfer we were all on board with it. It would be easier for dad to come see him if we were closer and i needed my kids and family close.

So we gave them the name of the hospital closest to us with a nicu and they would call and set it up. At 10am they came in and told us that that hospital would not have an available bed for him for a week. So we gave her the name of another hospital that was pretty much the same distance as the first one.

When we came back at 1230pm to feed little man they informed us that the transfer was confirmed and the transport would be there to pick him up at 4pm. So at 245 we came back and bathed him and fed him and then i was discharged and we got back to his room at 345 at which point he was already in the travel incubator thing ready to go. 4 came and went. There were big issues with the transport and it didn't show up till 6pm. So right before it came we went to bathroom and when we got back the nurse said they just came to take him down that if we hurried we could see him off. That apparently was not the case as he was long gone and i was so upset.

So we grabbed something to eat on the way and headed to the new hospital. When we got there the transport was just leaving and they said they just got there a few minutes before us so i guess they got caught in traffic. So we hurried up to the nicu as i so badly wanted to see little man.

They had "courtesy rooms" for Moms to stay in To be close to baby. I dropped my stuff off and went to go see my son. They wouldn't let me in till Dr seen him. I was so upset. I went outside and cried. At this point i hadn't seen my son in 2 hours and hadn't held him in almost 5, i was a wreck. Then my mom, step dad, and older son(4) showed up. That made me feel a bit better as i missed my kids So much. Then we went upstairs and i got to see my little baby.

Nursing continued to go well and they said in the morning they would start weaning him off the iv, which was great news as i seen it as one step closer to going home. He was off the iv after about 26 hours of being in the new hospital. Once off the iv the nursing took a turn for the worse. He all of a sudden did not have the strength to nurse he couldnt stay awake to eat. I think the lack of iv had something to do with that. So after 24 hours of the nursing not going well they put a tube in. Luckily the pumping was going well so they had tons of bm to give him. I was so devastated that he needed a tube fed, i blamed myself. About 12 hours after they put the tube in(thursday morning) i started begging the nurses to let me bottle feed him instead but they just wouldn't listen to me. When dad came up friday after work we went for dinner and insisted we needed to have a nice chat with the nurses when we got back to let them know we were going to bottle feed him. I hated the tube. I wanted to be the one taking care of him but they sat there and said because he had the stupid tube that he didn't need me, i was so upset. So when we got back from dinner we talked to the nurse and she finally listened. She said the reason they didn't want me bottle feeding was because i went to that hospital that i only wanted to breast feed but i told them that as much as that was true, the main goal was to get him home so if that ment on a bottle as long as he was getting bm i didnt care. So we finally started integrating in the bottle and his last tube feed was saurday afternoon. Before they would take the toob out he had to be taking all his feeds orally for 24 hours. When they took the tube out sunday evening i was over the moon. On monday he did his carseat test and passed with no issues. Now he just needed to gain weight. The pediatrition peadiatrition told me that day(monday) that he would be going home by thursday, but possibly by the next day. That night he had a good enough weight gain. I was over the moon. The next morning the dr came in and said Dominic Could go home that evening, i was so glad.

Luckily we only spent 11 days, but it was horrible none the less. I know our stay was not as complicated as some of yours but we are all strong mamas. When we got home my daughter was gone till friday and we were going to pick my son up on the saturday(2 hours away). It was so nice to see family.

After a week of being home i was struggling with my crappy pump to get any milk out so as scared as i was i told hubby either i put him to breast or i lose my supply. I put him to breast and have no issues. We had some minor issues at christmas as he had a cold and was distracted by commotion so not eating as often and he became so restless at breast that from mid nov to mid jan he only gained 7oz. Things picked up after that, i also had to go on domperidone to keep up my supply as i have medical issues that are decreasing my milk supply.The pediatrition is not concerned. The health nurse and family dr had a few concerning times with weight but have now accepted that he is just a slow gainer, he is finally in 2nd percentile. We also have a lady who works with preemies who comes out to our home to track development. So far there have been no issues, he just doesnt laugh yet. I am so proud of my little guy. The smallest 7 month old i have ever seen!!!

Sorry about the long story i just needed to tell someone :)
 

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My handsome boys. ❤

Born May 23rd 2015 at 8:28 and 8:30 am at 36 weeks 0 days.
First picture is of Connor Lee, he came into this world screaming weighing 5 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches. He had a small problem at first with his breathing that was taken care of before he even left the operating room. He stayed with me at the hospital the whole time and was immediately a champion breastfeeder. He was baby B.
Second picture is William Douglas, he also came intro he world screaming (quite loudly I might add), weighing 6 lbs 14 oz and 18 1/2 inches. He was fine at birth but when taken to the nursery while I was being stitched up and sent to recovery he went into respiratory distress. They tried to help him with what little equipment they had but they just didn't have the ability to keep him on oxygen as long as he needed So that evening (may 23rd) about 4, 5 o'clock he was sent to a larger hospital to their NICU. He spent his first 3 days of his life without mommy or daddy by his side :( I only got to see him for 30 seconds before He was taken away. After I got out of the hospital I made it up there to see him, and he immediately started getting better, I got to breastfeed him for the first time 6 days after he was born and the next day he Was able to go home. So he had a total of 7 days in the NICU.

Both are doing amazing now, Will still has a slight breathing problem, (he breathes faster than normal) but as he gets older he's getting tons better. ❤ oh and Connor had a little bit of trouble at birth with regulating his temp but he's fine now.
At their appt last week they weighed (William) 7 lbs 3 oz and (Connor) 6 lbs 3 oz.
❤❤
 

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I have never gotten around to introducing my v.i.p. So, 3 months down the line I will!

I had such an awful pregnancy, I was in and out with bleeds due to a subchorionic haematoma. Then anaemia, lack of movements etc. My employer said she believed it was best for both me and baby to take early maternity as it was really affecting my work. Thankfully I did!

My maternity started on the 25th May at 32 weeks pregnant. That week and the following I felt so drained, temperatures etc. I thought it was a mixture of sickness bug and my anaemia. On 5th June (33+4) I was getting very strong pains every half hour so thought I would have a bath. I knew if they died off they were just bh. After the bath they went to every 3-5 minutes lasting 45-60 seconds each. So I went down to the hospital. I was infact contracting and 2cm dilated. I was giving the steriod injection. Was told I will get another on Saturday then will be allowed home. Come Saturday 4pm my waters went!

Going to miss all the inbetween out as a lot happened such as being left with green waters etc. Come Monday 8th June at 4pm I was showing signs of an infection (had been since the Sunday but only taking seriously on the Monday) and the contractions started again. They started to induce labour at 7pm. Although baby started to get distressed so they stopped for a hr or so then restarted at 9ish. At 11:04pm our Princess was born weighing 4lbs 12oz. She was whisked away. Took to NICU where she had problems with feeding and her stomach was distended. She ended up being transferred to a different hospital who found she didn't have tummy problems but e.col sepsis. The antibiotics that the pervious hospital was making her worse.

It turned out she was born early due to the fact I had chorioamnionitis as well as e.coli sepsis and had done for a good few days prior to going into labour.

We had a 10 day hospital stay then we were discharged. She weighed 4lbs 11oz. She's now 14 weeks and weighs a tiny 10lbs. In that time she's been diagnosed with a reflux (at 4 weeks old) and on Tuesday she was diagnosed with laryngomalacia! She's had a tough time but she'll get there!

Here is a comparison picture of my v.i.p.
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Hey ladies! So as my son's first birthday is right around the corner, i have jumped back on my BNB forums to reminisce! It has been an AMAZING year and I am so proud of my micropreemie fighter!! I wanted to post an update!

Born 1/2/15 at 23 weeks my son Zackary weighed 1lb 8oz
Now, 12/2/15 at 11 months old he weighs 16lbs 4oz!!!

Throughout the 118 day stay in the NICU, Zackary experienced a UTI which needed antibiotics, Hernia surgery, and lots and lots of time on the ventilator. Thank God there were no other complications during his stay! When he came home he ended up needing laser eye surgery for ROP and another eye surgery for detaching retinas. Now he will need glasses but that is fine with me!

At 7 months corrected (11 months actual), he is now crawling, standing, babbling, teething, eating pureed food, laughing and loving life! When I looked back at my VIP post last January on this thread, Zackary was only 2 weeks old and I had no idea what was in store for him. We have made it through the NICU and through a move to Minnesota and I have never been more proud to be called Zackary's mom :)

Here are some comparison pics!
 

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